"Audiences that go to my movies don't want a message. They
don't want my soul exposed or my life view. They just want to laugh."
Dennis Dugan

Starting out in the New York theater scene, Dennis Dugan first
made his mark in Hollywood in front of the camera starring in the TV
series "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye" (1978), "Empire"
(1984), and "Shadow Chasers" (1985). He also appeared in
reoccurring roles in "Hill Street Blues" and
"Moonlighting."

In Wheaton, Illinois, Dennis Dugan was born on September 5, 1946,
to Charles Dugan. He graduated from Wheaton Central High School and
went to DePaul University, in Chicago, IL, where he graduated in
1969. Also that year, he graduated from Chicago's Goodman Theater
School and subsequently relocated to New York City.

Dennis Dugan, nicknamed “The Duge,” was once married
to Joyce Van Patten, the sister of actor Dick Van Patten. He is
currently married to Sharon O Connor and has one son, Kelly Dugan.

Richie Brockelman, Private Eye

Career:

Acting in high school, Dennis Dugan went on to sharpen his craft
at Chicago's Goodman Theater School. After he graduated in 1969, the
aspiring actor moved to New York City and appeared off-Broadway in
productions of "A Man's Man" and "The House of Blue
Leaves." He next appeared in an unaccredited role in Arthur
Hiller's Oscar-winning dark comedy, "The Hospital" (1971)
and was spotted as a guest in an episode of "The Sixth Sense"
and "The Mod Squad."

After making his credited feature debut in “Night Call
Nurses” (1972), a thriller directed by Jonathan Kaplan, Dugan
relocated to Hollywood in 1973 and acted in the ABC TV-movie “The
Girl Most Likely to...,” starring Stockard Channing and Edward
Asner. He also made episodic TV appearances in series such as "Love,
American Style," "The Waltons," "Cannon,"
"Good Heavens," "Alice," "Police Story,"
and "Supertrain," and appeared in the ABC miniseries "Rich
Man, Poor Man" (1976; playing Nick Nolte's best friend) and the
TV movies "Death Race" (1973), "The Girl Who Couldn't
Lose" (1975), "Columbo: Last Salute to the Commodore"
(1976), "Father O Father" (1976), "The Fatal Weakness"
(1976), and "Last of the Good Guys" (1978). On the big
screen, he could be seen in the films "The Day of the Locust"
(1975), "Night Moves" (1975), "Smile" (1975),
"Harry and Walter Go to New York" (1976), "Norman...
Is That You?" (1976) and "The Spaceman and King Arthur"
(1979).

During this time, Dugan first appeared in the role of Richie
Brockelman, a young private detective, in the 1976 NBC movie “Richie
Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours.” He would later reprise the
character for several episodes of NBC's detective drama “The
Rockford Files” and played the title role on NBC's “Richie
Brockelman, Private Eye.”

In the early 1980s, Dugan had the prominent role of Belinda
Balaski's boyfriend in Joe Dante's film inspired by a 1977 horror
novel by Gary Brandner, “The Howling” (1981). He also
played the recurring role of Captain Freedom in NBC's police drama
“Hill Street Blues” (1982) and returned as a series
regular in CBS' “Empire” (1984), playing Ben Christian.

After playing the role of flamboyant tabloid reporter Edgar
"Benny" Benedek in the ABC mystery TV series “Shadow
Chasers” (1985), Dugan made his TV directing debut with a 1987
episode of NBC's detective show starring Fred Dryer, “Hunter.”
He then returned in front of the camera and played Cybill Shepherd's
husband in ABC's “Moonlighting,” in which several
episodes he also directed. He then appeared in John Hughes' “She's
Having a Baby” (1988), and portrayed David Brodkey in
“Parenthood” (1989).

Entering the 1990s, Dugan made his feature directorial debut with
the comedy “Problem Child” (1990; starring John Ritter,
Amy Yasbeck, Gilbert Gottfried, Jack Warden, Michael Richards, and
Michael Oliver), in which he also played a small role. He went on to
direct “Brain Donors” (1992; co-starring John Turturro,
Mel Smith, and Bob Nelson), a comedy loosely based on the Marx
Brothers' "A Night at the Opera."

In 1993, Dugan made his TV-movie directing debut with ABC's
"Columbo: Butterfly in Shades of Grey," a mystery starring
Peter Falk and William Shatner, and directed the pilot for the UPN
adventure series “Marker” in 1995.

1996 saw Dugan score a major box office triumph with the hockey
comedy “Happy Gilmore,” which he directed and starred
opposite Adam Sandler. He then directed the less-successful Chris
Farley vehicle “Beverly Hills Ninja” (1997), and teamed
up again with Sandler as the director of the box office hit comedy
“Big Daddy” (1999), which unfortunately was nominated for
five Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst
Supporting Actor for Rob Schneider, and Worst Screenplay, with
Sandler winning the award for Worst Actor.

Dugan returned to the director's chair in 2001 for the big screen
comedy “Saving Silverman,” starring Steve Zahn, Jack
Black, Jason Biggs, and Amanda Peet. Two years later, he directed
Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn in the comedy “National
Security” (2003). During this time, Dugan also directed
episodes of ABC's cop drama “NYPD Blue” and Fox's series
starring Calista Flockhart, “Ally McBeal.”

After directing the comedy “The Benchwarmers” (2006)
with Rob Schneider and David Spade, Dugan directed Adam Sandler and
Kevin James in the comedy, "I Now Pronounce You Chuck &
Larry" (2007), which received eight Razzie nominations,
including one for Worst Picture and Worst Director.

Recently, Dugan once again directed Adam Sandler in the comedy
“You Don't Mess with the Zohan” (2008). He is now
directing an untitled Adam Sandler's comedy set to be released in
2010. The movie will feature Kevin James, Rob Schneider, David Spade,
and Chris Rock.

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